Recommendantion for use - personal protective equipment (89/686/EEC)

The « recommendation for use »

The Recommendation for Use sheets (RfUs) are elaborated either by the Vertical Groups (VGs) or by the Horizontal Committe (HC) of the European Co-ordination of Notified Bodies under personal protective equipment (89/686/EEC). In both cases the RfUs are approved by the HC and sent to the European Commission to be “endorsed” ; when they are “endorsed” the RfUs are published on the Europa Website.

These "Technical sheets for coordination" report the common position of the Notified Bodies in the PPE sector. They are approved by the Expert Group "PPE". The topics range from the interpretation of provisions of the Directive to practical problems as encountered by NB. It is expected that all NBs stick to the common positions as published.

The initial and first objective of these RfU (when standardization was not so complete as it is now) was to help Notified bodies in their certification process of conformity of machines and to harmonize the practices of notified bodies that were doing the same kind of product certification.

If an accident happens, a judge will probably look for all the documents linked with the device on which the accident happened.

The RfU sheets are numbering with the following rules

• The sheets prefixed with 00 are horizontal RFU and apply to all types of PPE
• The sheets prefixed with 11 are vertical RFU, are issued by Vertical group No. 11 of the notified bodies coordination  “Protection against Fallsfrom aHeight”.

The list of Vertical Groups VG :

• Vertical Group 1 : “Head Protection”
• Vertical Group 2 : “Respiratory Protective Equipment”
• Vertical Group 3  : “Eye and Face Protection”
• Vertical Group 4  : “Hearing Protection”
• Vertical Group 5  :  “Protective Clothing, Hand and Arm Protection”
• Vertical Group 7 : “Protective Clothing against Hand-held Chain Saws”
• Vertical Group 8 : “Lifejackets”
• Vertical Group 9 : “Protective Clothing for Motorcycle Riders and Sports Impact Protectors” 
• Vertical Group 11 : “Protection against Fallsfrom aHeight”

List of recommendations for use 

Actual list of recommendantions for use

Follow the link hereafter to download the actual RFU : 

• Horizontal Recommendation for Use sheets (RfUs)  -  August 2012
• Vertical Recommendation for Use sheets (RfUs):
  • Vertical Group 1   - March 2013
  • Vertical Group 2   -  March 2013
  • Vertical Group 3   -  March 2013
  • Vertical Group 4   - December 2012
  • Vertical Group 5   - December 2012
  • Vertical Group 7   - December 2012
  • Vertical Group 8   - March 2013
  • Vertical Group 9   - December 2012
  • Vertical Group 11   - March 2013